The above link will take you to an excellent debate on DemocracyNOW concerning the impact of Barack Obama and the implications of an Obama presidency on black people.
I especially like this quote from Glen Ford:
We’re in this era of firsts, and the ultimate first, a first—possibly a first black president. But we already had two firsts. Colin Powell was one of them, and Condoleezza Rice, his successor as secretary of state [was another]. How did that redound to the benefit of black people for the United States to have a black – put a black face on imperialism, on aggressive war, on violations of international law? How does that make black people look better in the world? Is that the kind of burden that black people want to carry around?
Again, a problem is that Obama, through no fault of his own, has to carry a burden for ‘black people’. And this is whether he wants to or not. Just ask Tiger Woods for his opinion on this. I believe that Obama does deploy his blackness strategically, and so the criticisms are warranted. But as Ford points out, a black-face (I mean this in both senses of the term) on imperialism is not something to hope for.
9 comments ↓
[...] Mental Slavery puts in his two cents about “the implications of an Obama presidency on black people.” Share This [...]
If you think that Obama is carrying a burden for black people, is it a problem for you? Why do you have a problem, as it seem in the article wrote? Let us {black people} be, your kind is equal in ways and had their days, so let us receive our blessings now…America is in trouble now for what they did to God’s people, judgement is at hand in the beautiful country of Egypt, Africa.
@ Peter Osei, Umm… did you know that I’m black?
take yourselves out of the matrix.
@beny - Neo? Is that you?
These comments confused me. What is everyone talking about? Black in mind or skin?
@ Biata - probably a bit of both. I can agree with the confusion though. They do seem like unrelated tangents / knee-jerk reactions to the above… too bad they didn’t come back to clarify their points. And yes. I confess. I was trying to be the devil’s advocate.
i just wish black ppl would change their ways now that we have a black president
beacause what we do affects him!~
i agree breya
but i dont get if
this is metal slavery
or not
Leave a Comment